Chapter 9: Man, I Feel Like a Woman

JW Little Memorial Stadium, UWO, London

1:21pm, Friday, November 16, 1979

“You don’t realize how much I appreciate you doing this for me, Officer Whitman,” I said after I pulled my scarlet and with white trim ‘19’ jersey over my shoulder pads.

“We’re happy to help the current Cowboys, Mike,” Officer Bruce Whitman said as he turned off his lights and siren when he pulled into the parking area at the north end of Western’s ten-thousand set stadium.

“Please tell Commissioner Landon, that I also appreciate your driving our quarterback to this game,” Mr. Williamson said from the front seat of the police car.

“Us old Cowboys have to stick together and help the current crop of Medway kids,” the grinning officer replied as he put his cruiser in park. He then turned to me and said, “Don’t let this ride go to waste, now, Mike.”

“I’ll do my best to get Medway its first football title in six years,” I replied as I waited for Officer Whitman to open the back door of his cruiser.

When I started to wait on Tempe to get out of the cruiser, she yelled, “Go! Get your butt out on the field, Mike!”

At the entrance to the stadium, a security guard tried to stop me and Mr. Williamson from entering. It took about thirty seconds for this sixty-five-year-old man to be convinced that I was a real player, and had a prior engagement. Finally, with a flash of his VP identification, Mr. W provided proof of our identities, and we were allowed into the stadium.

I got into the playing area with forty-five seconds left in the first quarter with the score Parkside 13 and Medway 7. Parkside had the ball on our 42 yard line, and I arrived just in time to see my friend and Parkside’s quarterback Todd Daymend complete a 21 yard pass to Adam Peawtrowski to our 21 yard line.

Before I arrived, Todd had completed a 37 yard touchdown pass to Adam. He also scored on a quarterback sneak for Parkside’s two touchdowns. Adam missed the second extra point to give them their thirteen points. For my Cowboys, Brad scored on a 48 yard pitch play, where he broke three tackles to get Medway back to within one score.

When Coach St. Georges heard a loud roar from the Cowboy fans after that Parkside gainer, he turned to see me running down the track to our bench. He immediately signaled for a time out. When I got to our team’s bench, our coach said, “I would ask you how it went at the JLC, but we’re in a major dogfight here with these Parkside boys. Are you ready to go?”

“I sure am, Coach. Are we switching to our Lucas ‘D’?” I replied and asked as Barry O’Nils, our defensive captain came over to the bench.

“Let’s switch to Lucas. Mike, you’ve got ‘42’ all to yourself. Also, if the chance presents...”

“I’ll blitz if given the opportunity,” I interjected as I slapped my hand on Barry’s muddy shoulder pad.

“Okay, guys. We’ve got us a ball game to win!” Coach St. Georges excitedly said. He then focused on Barry and said, “Tell those linemen to dig in. We don’t have a chance if they keep getting five plus yards-a-pop. They have to man-up ... starting now!”

On the way out to our huddle, I said, “You guys focus on stopping the run! Force them to pass. I’ll keep Adam from hurting us.”

We held Parkside to three yards on their two runs and one incomplete pass to their wide receiver. Adam Peawtrowski then kicked a twenty-five yard field goal to give Parkside a 16-7 lead on the first play of the second quarter.

During the kickoff, Coach kept me on the sidelines to warm up my passing arm with Geoff Thirlwall. After Ronnie ran the kickoff back to our 33 yard line, I went in and led our team down the field with a mix of runs and play-action passes on this cold, snowy day. We stalled out at Parkside’s 11 yard line, and Matt Connell’s eighteen yard field goal was blocked after his plant foot slipped on the slick turf. The score remained 16-7 with 5:15 left before half time.

On Parkside’s first play after that missed scoring opportunity, Todd threw a long pass to Adam, which I got my hand on to deflect it in the air. Bruce Smythe, who had that deep zone coverage corralled that tipped pass at the Parkside 41, and ran it back to their 23 yard line.

On our first down play, we ran a bootleg play to the right, and I ran with the ball for an eighteen yard gain to the Stamps’ five yard line. On our first and goal play, Brad ran a power run up the middle for a three yard gain. On second and goal from the two, we ran a quick trap play, and Matt Connell scored without being touched. The extra point kick made the score 16-14 for Parkside with 3:52 left in the half.

After a good kickoff return for Parkside, they rammed the ball down our defense’s throats to reach our 12 yard line with twelve seconds left in the half. Adam Peawtrowski kicked a 19 yard field goal with five seconds left in the half. Time ran out on the ensuing kickoff to give the Stampeders a 19-14 half time lead.

The snow and wind really picked up as we huddled near the concrete grandstands for our half-time talk. The temperature was about 28 Fahrenheit with a wind-chill temperature of about 18 degrees. Thankfully, Coach Skop was able to get both teams access to Western’s stash of large cold weather jackets to cover up when we weren’t in the game.

“We’ve got to stop their runs if we want any chance at winning this game,” Coach said to us as we did our best to stay warm. “We’re going to use more man-covers, Ronnie, Bruce, and Brad so we can deal with their size up front. It’s going to be tough on this slippery field, but I think that is our best chance to keep them from running it down our throats.”

Our second half didn’t start the way we wanted as Ronnie fumbled the ball on the kickoff, and Parkside recovered the ball on our 30 yard line. After losing two yards on their first running play of half, Todd threw an out route towards Adam on their second and twelve play. I was able to cut in front of Adam on that slightly wobbly pass at our 20 to pick it off. With a full head of steam, I easily outraced Adam, Todd and their running back for a ninety yard pick-6 interception return. With Matt’s PAT kick, we took our first lead in the game, 21-19. (Note: Canadian football fields are 110 yards long with 25 yard end zones.)

The rest of the third quarter was mostly a series of ‘three and outs’ as both offenses now had trouble moving the ball in this cold, windy afternoon. Both Todd and I had a number of catchable passes dropped as the cold temperatures and wet ball made for poor skill execution. In addition, Western’s field was worsening with every snowflake that fell on the turf. The score remained 21-19 at the end of the third quarter.

On Parkside’s second possession of the fourth quarter, they were able to once more drive the ball down our throats. They purposefully moved Adam out wide to take me out of most defensive plays, which improved their rushing attack. With Big Erv Daymend leading the way from his left tackle position, Parkside’s half back ran sixteen yards on a toss swipe play for a touchdown to give the Stampeders a 26-21 lead with 8:33 left in the game.

After both teams gained a few yards and punted the ball, we took over on our 41 yard line with 3:12 on the clock, trailing by five points. After an injury timeout for a Parkside lineman on our first down play, Coach said, “Let’s go with our triples and use our new routes, Mike. Tell the receivers to catch the damn ball, too.”

“We’ll get it done, Coach,” I said as Gene Hand, our student manager brought a chemical heat pack over for me to put in my hand warming sleeve. With that wonderful warmth around my hands, I said, “You’re the best, Gene,” and gave him a light punch on his shoulder.

I completed two passes, one to Ronnie and one to Geoff to move the ball to the Parkside 37 with 1:31 on the clock. On first down, I called for our double pass with Ronnie having the option to throw or run the ball. Even in with the crappy weather, Ronnie made a beautiful throw to Geoff, to move the ball down to Parkside’s twelve yard line.

On first down, we ran our Green 37 toss-sweep play, which Brad ran for five yards to their seven yard line. On second down, from our basic ‘22-power I’ formation, I threw a quick slant to Smytty for a three yard gain. We then went from elation to dejection in a manner of moments on our third down play. We thought Brad scored on a four yard touchdown run. However, it was called back due to an illegal motion penalty on Smytty. Our receiver crossed the line a moment too soon because I stupidly changed my snap cadence, which influenced the timing of his crack-back block.

On that play, Big Erv had his right ankle rolled upon in the mass of bodies at the line of scrimmage. When I saw that he was leaving the game, I quickly gathered my teammates in our huddle and said, “With Erv out, we’re going to attack his replacement. Let’s go with ‘41’, Tight left, Offset Left, Sprint Left, 25 Draw. Brad I need you to run a 37 at 5 yards to take that linebacker with you. Geoff, you’re on the right up on the line of scrimmage. You really don’t have to do anything on this. Just don’t jump offside. Guys, you’ve got to give Matt a crease to run it. Everybody got that? We’ll go on one.”

(Note: In this ‘41’ formation, we had Ronnie, Smytty, Brad and Gary Dander, our tight-end to the left to spread Parkside’s defense out in order to create a running lane for Matt Connell’s ‘draw-run’ where Big Erv would have been playing.)

We were on Parkside’s nine for this critical third and seven play call. At the line of scrimmage, I was happy to see that Adam Peawtrowski was out with Brad on this play. With him and Big Erv now out of the action, I liked our chances of gaining serious yards on this draw play. After I handed the ball off to Matt, he plowed through a one arm tackle at the line of scrimmage and gained eight crucial yards to the Parkside one.

On first and goal from the one, our Red 33 power run was stuffed for no gain. I immediately called our last time out with 29 seconds on the game clock. On our second down play, Coach had us run our inside trap, Yellow 22 with Matt. That was the play Matt ran untouched for a touchdown earlier in the game. Unfortunately, he was nailed for a one yard loss on this critical play.

In our huddle, I called, “‘22’, Tight left, ‘I’, Fake Red 33, Boot Right, 78, 63 delay, on one.” I then looked at Geoff and added, “Block down for a count, before doing that ‘3’, Geoff. Be ready, Dude!” Then to the rest of my teammates, I said, “We’re gonna win this, right here, right now. We’re doing it on one. Ready, break!”

After faking a handoff to Brad to our left, I reversed directions to our right and first looked for Ronnie on a post route. He was double teamed, so I sprinted as fast as I could towards the corner pylon. With Adam Peawtrowski zeroing in on me, I saw that Geoff had a step on the linebacker as he ran about two yards inside the end zone. Just as Adam drilled me, I launched a short, soft pass towards Geoff. My eleventh grade teammate made a diving catch of that ‘wounded duck’ pass just inside the junction of the goal line and the sideline.

The crowd’s boisterous response to that play let me know that we just took a 27 to 26 lead in this championship game. When I looked at the scoreboard from my turf level location, I simply smiled as I saw ‘00:06’ on the game clock. Half of my teammates ran over to Geoff to congratulate him on that awesome catch, and half came over to check on me as I struggled to get my breath after that legal but wicked ‘bread-basket’ hit from Parkside’s ‘42’.

As we all were super excited and sharing congratulations with Geoff, Greg Shewfield ran onto the field, with Geoff going off for this extra point play. Greg came over to me and said we were to just do a regular kneel down or ‘victory’ play. Greg said that Coach didn’t want to risk a blocked kick and a possible run back for two points.

With a one point lead, after that kneel down, Coach St. Georges instructed Matt to do a short, fifteen to twenty yard squib kick. He also put me on the kick coverage unit, positioned right next to the football. He told me to sprint to the ball and tackle whoever had the ball. He also told Brad and Ronnie to hang back as safety men, in case Parkside somehow got through our compressed kick coverage.

Matt’s kickoff bounced crazily, and was bobbled by a ‘non-skilled’ up-back player at their 49 yard line. I avoided two blockers and tackled that Stampeder after he advanced the ball to their 52 yard line. Looking at the game clock, there was one second left in the game.

Parkside had time for one final ‘Hail Mary’ pass. Todd Daymend heaved the ball towards three of his receivers and five of our defenders. I was able to out jump everyone on this long bomb throw to our seven-yard line, and slammed the ball into the snow covered turf.

As soon as I saw the pigskin rolling on the ground, I collapsed onto the cold, wet field, and shouted with joy. I was soon smothered by screaming teammates as they converged on the location of the game’s final play. Brad, Ronnie, Smytty and Chris were the first to dog-pile me, with Brad’s screaming, facemask-covered grin pressed into my screaming facemask-covered grin.

After celebrating our one point victory for a few minutes near our end zone, we walked up near mid-field to begin the handshake line. Brad, Geoff and I hung around near the end of our line. When I met up with Todd, we both stepped out for a moment to talk.

“That was one heck of a game, Mike. Congrats, my friend,” Todd said as his white number 9 uniform was anything but white.

“Thanks, Todd. It was a good game. It very easily could have been your game,” I replied.

“You guys made the plays when you had to. Well done ... dang it,” Todd said and then laughed.

“Well, we took advantage of things when your brother went out of the game for a few plays,” I said.

“No more so than us taking advantage of you not being here at the start of the game. Hey, stuff happens, and you guys did what you needed to do to win. Congrats, again. Oh! Oh! How did your band challenge go, by the way?”

“We did well, I think. We were missing our regular bass player, my girlfriend Lisa, who is recovering from that nasty flu bug. We’ll know where we stand with it later on tonight. Keep your fingers crossed for us, ‘kay.”

“Will do, Mike. Call me when you find out, kay?”

“I’ll let you sometime, tomorrow.”

The Middlesex-Elgin conference’s head athletic director handed out the championship trophy to Matt Connell, Dean Smybarth and Barry O’Nils, our tri-captains. Brad, Geoff, Greg and I hung out with the other eight eleventh graders as our older teammates took turns hoisting the large championship trophy. After giving my teammates a chance to celebrate with the trophy, the head AD began to announce the MVP for this game. The tall, thin gentleman said, “Our six member committee couldn’t come up with one MVP, so we decided to have co-MVPs for this exciting game. I would like to have the two key players on that last amazing, game winning touchdown to come forward, please. The co-MVPs for this championship game are receiver Geoff Thirlwall and quarterback Mike Nevins of Medway.”

Both Geoff and I slowly walked over to the AD and shook his hand as he held that MVP award in front of his chest. The AD then said in the microphone, “Geoff had five catches for one-hundred and two yards, capped by that amazing catch in the end zone. Mike threw for two-hundred and five yards with one TD pass. He also ran ninety yards for a game changing touchdown on his third quarter interception.”

After those words, several photographers asked us to pose with the AD, the MVP award and the championship trophy.

“Way to go, Geoff!” I heard yelled down from the stands. When I tried to locate the source of that shout, I saw Tammi Gower jumping up and down, alongside Elizabeth, Tempe, Eda, Sammy and a bunch more of my Medway friends. I was glad to see the members of the Shania Twain Band (STB) there, all shouting for me and my teammates.

I let Geoff hold onto the MVP award, as I moved around talking with teammates and coaches. When I spied a smiling Dr. Candi on the sidelines, I walked over to her. Because I was muddy, I simply shared a high-five with our ‘honorary’ team doctor.

“I’m so proud of you, Mike. You played great and really came through when your teammates needed you,” Dr. Candi said with a major smile on her face.

“Thanks, DC. Did you talk with Todd?” I asked.

“I did. I told him he played well, too. It just wasn’t his or his team’s day,” Candi replied.

“I’m glad that nobody got hurt and that you had a relatively uneventful time during the game,” I said with a smile.

“Yes, indeed. Todd’s brother, Erv has a badly sprained ankle, but he’ll be fine with a few weeks’ rest.”

“Okay, DC. I appreciate all you’ve done for me, and especially for Lisa. It should be alright for her to come over to Sammy’s place for a little celebration party, right?” I asked as we started to walk off the field.

“Yes, but try to keep her from getting too wound up with things. Make sure she doesn’t drink any alcohol, either. That medicine she’s on doesn’t mix well with booze.”

“We won’t be drinking, DC. The Labatt’s are big-time careful about underage drinking on their property,” I replied with a grin.

“Okay, Lisa still has to be careful with this Lupus diagnosis. Take care, Mike, and congratulations on winning the game and the MVP award,” Dr. Candi said as she waved up at the Time Bandettes, Tempe and some of my other Medway friends who were yelling out her name.

Just as I was about to walk under the stadium, Sammy yelled, “Great game, Cuda! Here’s your gym bag with your regular clothes.” She then reached over the railing and dropped my Medway bag down to me.

“You were awesome, Mike,” Tempe said from beside Sammy. She was real cute looking with her blonde curls poking out from under her purple, London-Western knit toque. I also liked her look in her new black and purple ski-jacket.

“Thanks, Tempe, guys,” I replied with a smile. I then asked Sammy, “Can you come and get me at school? Give me a little time to get showered and changed, though.”

“Sure thing, Cuda. We’re gonna get together at my place before heading out to eat, but I’ll come over to school to get ya.”

“Sammy, there’s no sense in that,” Brad said as he stopped beside me. “He can ride over there with me. Lizzie, why don’t you ride with Sammy or the Lunbys, and I’ll see you there?”

“‘Kay, Brad. Great game, guys! We’ll see you shortly,” Elizabeth said as she blew her boyfriend a kiss.

On the short bus ride back to Medway, the older players on our team were giving Geoff and me a hard time for ‘stealing’ that MVP award from Matt. Our big fullback and defensive end had a great game; scoring one touchdown and having a team high nine tackles.

“Hey, I can’t help it if Matthew got stone-cold crushed after I gave him a shot at that game winning TD,” I laughed in response to their good natured ribbing.

“Yeah, it wasn’t my fault that you ‘older guys’ couldn’t open a hole from him on that last running play,” Geoff yelled before he was playfully mugged by Dean and Paul Smybarth, and Tim deGraw, three of the linemen who weren’t able to open a hole for Matt at the end of the game.

“Damn, Geoff! I just about had a heart attack ‘cause I got drilled just as I let that go to you. You made a superb catch on that ‘quacker’ of a pass,” I yelled to my teammate from a few seats behind his location.

“Gawd, I was praying that I could get to the pass,” Geoff exclaimed as he knelt on the bus seat to talk with Brad and me.

“I’m not sure which of these was your best catch, Geoff ... that touchdown or your diving catch at the end of practice, yesterday,” Ronnie shouted over the loud buzz of our teammates.

“That practice one was the better catch in my opinion, but it doesn’t compare to the greatness of that TD grab,” Smytty said as he shared a high-five with Geoff and Ronnie.

“That was a bloody sweet catch, Geoff,” Matt added from his seat beside Kane Goodwin.

“And just think, I had to get a separated shoulder for Geoff and Mike to win that MVP award,” Kane laughed as he gingerly moved his right arm around in his sling for added emphasis.

“You’re not right, Kane,” I replied as our bus turned onto Medway Road from Richmond North.

Most of us waved at the few cheering students who had returned from the game and were milling about the front of the school. I was pleasantly surprised to see a handful of our teachers waiting for us as we walked in the front doors.

“You boys were awesome!” Mrs. Stenn shouted and clapped as we made our way to the varsity locker room.

“That was a great catch, Mr. Thirlwall,” Mr. Chidly called out with as much vim as I had ever heard from our physics and math teacher.

“Thanks, Sir,” Geoff replied as Brad, Geoff and I entered the school.

I had to laugh when Chid said, “The aerodynamics on that last pass weren’t optimum, Nevins, but the result was certainly primo.”

“I’ll take primo over optimum, every day of the week, Mr. Chidly!” I exclaimed as I reached out and shared a high-five with my stoic physics’ teacher.

Even though two eleventh graders shared the MVP award, we still had to follow team protocol in the locker room. All eight of us ‘youngsters’ were the last guys to get in the shower to wash off the grime and muck, and to fully get the chill out of our bones. Since there wasn’t any real urgency, Brad, Geoff, and I all took our sweet time under the hot, steamy showers.

When we stepped out to grab our towels, Coach St. Georges said, “I’m leaving the locker room key at your locker, Mike. Lock up when you’re done in here, and keep the key in your school locker ‘till Monday. You guys, and your friends are welcome to come over to my house for some pizza, wings and drinks.”

“We’ll let the ladies know about that offer, Coach,” Brad replied as he toweled his body.

“I think I heard Sammy say something about going out to eat, so I’m not positive we’ll get over to your place, Coach,” I added as I rubbed my head with my towel.

“Just let them know that they’re more than welcome at my place.”

“We will, Coach,” Brad and Geoff both replied.

The three of us arrived over at Sammy’s guest house right at four-thirty. When I looked at the clock in Brad’s truck, I said, “Hopefully, the Cowgirls will have an easier time against the Irish than we did against the Stamps. Their game is supposed to start right about now.”

“Didn’t they destroy St. Pats in the Purple and White tournament, three weeks ago?” Geoff half-way stated and asked.

“Yeah, but playoffs are a different animal,” I replied as I shut the passenger door of Brad’s Silverado.

“Too bad that game isn’t a little closer to here,” Brad added as he walked around the back of his truck.

“Hopefully, the girls will win this game, and we can head on down to Strathroy in the morning for their semi-final and championship games,” I said with a smile.

Sammy had music playing in the background as we walked into the guest house. There were about twenty-five, tenth through twelfth graders, plus Anthony and Tina, milling about with various pops and snacks in their hands. I was extremely happy to see one ninth grader, though, as Bricky came bounding over to me after Tempe called out her welcome to us from behind the kitchen island.

“Mike, Mike! I’m so happy that you guys won, but I’m super bummed that I didn’t see you and your game winning touchdown pass,” Brick cried as she leap up and wrapped her arms around my neck and legs around my waist. Once I had my busty beauty in my arms, I could definitely tell that she was a good five to seven pounds lighter than her normal one-oh-two weight.

“I’m happier that you seem to be well on your way to being Bricky, again,” I replied after we separated from a wonderfully passionate kiss.

“Feeling better is good, but winning that championship ... that is freckin’ awesome!” Brick exclaimed as she loosened her boa-like legs and slowly dropped her feet to the carpeted floor. As Tina said the other day, Brick may have lost some weight, but not an ounce of that was from her youthful set of ‘double-Ds’.

“Oh, before I, we, forget; Coach said we were all invited over to his house from some pizza, wings and drinks,” Brad said with Elizabeth cuddled up under his arm.

Sammy and a bunch of the non-football playing crew looked at each other and then to Brad and me. My redheaded band mate then said, “I’m not sure about having twenty or so non-players or girls over at his house would be a good thing, guys.”

“Coach really won’t mind,” I replied as Brick and I walked over to Tempe’s location. “He specifically said, ‘You guys and your friends ... not just girlfriends.’”

“If you’re not up for going to Froggy’s, then what are the plans for getting some grub?” Brad asked.

“My dad said he’d order a mess of pizzas from Tony’s. Katie and him love their panzerottis, so he’s all up for buying us dinner,” Sammy exclaimed.

“Will he be upset if we all chipped in a little cash? I just hate having your folks buy all of us pizzas, seeing how they’ve supplied us with drinks and snacks,” Anthony said from the recliner.

“Yeah, Sammy,” Jon added as he dug his wallet from his back pocket.

“Okay. If y’all toss in a few bucks, I’ll run it over to him. That way, he won’t know who to return the money to when he comes over to ‘playfully’ fuss at everyone,” Sammy replied with a grin on her face.

“Will your dad be upset with us for putting some money up for our pizzas?” Tempe softly asked.

“Not really. He’ll probably act all puffed up, but my dad really will appreciate you guys trying to take care of your own business,” Sammy said to Tempe and Tina.

As we waited for our various Italian entrees to arrive, a bunch of guys helped me get all of our instruments from our band’s trailer. Eda loved having Cathy and Wayne’s help in putting her drum kit together. If the two lovebirds had cut out all their little smooches, they, along with Cathy could have assembled her DW’s in less than half the time that it took them.

As I was carrying in my two electric guitar cases, I saw Paul’s purple bass guitar case resting beside the storage closet. I chuckled when I pictured him getting up to play with us after we ate and waited for the Cowgirl basketball players to arrive from their game.

“So, Shania, what’s it like to be in a band with these two fake northerners?” Jennifer Rathje asked as she sat on the carpet in front of Andy, who was sitting on the sofa.

“Ha, once we got them acclimatized to our weather, Cathy and Paul haven’t been too tough to work with,” the petite dirty blonde beauty replied. Shania was sitting in Paul’s lap in the loveseat.

“Getting used to that damnably cold, Timmins’ wind was definitely tougher than working with Shania and Steve,” Cathy laughed from her perch on the arm of the sofa.

“Yeah, if you thought it was cold out there playing, you guys need to come up to Bumfuck-Egypt-North to get a true feeling of cold,” Paul exclaimed as he squeezed Shania’s slender waist.

“Ahhh, I’ll take your word on that cold,” I replied with a grin.

“Still a big wimp, huh, Cuda?” Brad laughed from over at the kitchen island.

“Damn, straight! Plus, you were pretty stoked that my warm hands were able to get that pass off to Geoff,” I stated and then added my own small dig towards Brad.

“We all were super stoked to see that winning pass and catch,” Tammi Gower replied as she turned to kiss Geoff on his cheek.

Tempe gave me a little shot in the ribs when she saw that PDA from Tammi. I smiled down at my blonde girlfriend and winked in acknowledgement of that little scene over by the sofa.

“How much longer is it gonna be before the pizzas get here? I’m absolutely starving,” Brick asked as she leaned her head against my shoulder.

It was wonderful to hear that Lisa’s appetite had finally returned after a week of mostly fluids and barely picking at solid food. When Sammy heard Brick’s soft lament, she looked at her watch and said, “Hopefully, Patty will have our pizzas here in five, Bricky.”

“Gawd, I can smell the meat-lovers pizza, right now,” Brick softly said as she rubbed her hands together.

“It’s nice to see you all Brick-like, again,” Tempe said was she squeezed Brick’s hand.

“It’s nicer to feel all Bricky, again, Hot-lips,” Brick replied as she bounced their joined hands against her thigh.

With dueling conversations, either about the NIS band challenge or our football game going on around the room, I was surprised to hear a car horn sound outside the guest house.

“Sammy, our pizzas are here,” I said and gently nudged Tempe to get up off of my thigh.

“Come on, Desi, Mike. Let’s get them from Ms. Patty,” Sammy asked.

As she walked out the door, Sammy pulled the rolled up wad of bills from her jeans. As Desi and I each grabbed a ten pizza box stack from the back of Patty’s Chevy Vega, I heard the delivery lady say, “Your dad has already paid for these with his credit card, Samantha.”